Toronto Exhibitions

Jack Chambers: Lunch [Unfinished], 1969: Oil and synthetic paint in a natural resin varnish (possibly) on plywood. Purchase with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007. © Estate of Jack Chambers and Loch Gallery.

Jack Chambers
Art Gallery of Ontario
To May 13, 2012

The many artistic guises assumed by London, Ontario-based Jack Chambers in his too-brief life are brought  together in this exhibition, subtitled Light, Spirit, Time, Place and Life. From surrealist influenced paintings created in the 1950s while the artist lived in Spain to his creation of a realist style of painting he called “perceptual realism”, Chambers always sought to reinvent his language of visual expression. Several of his paintings, such as 401 Towards London No. 1 and his haunting, unfinished painting Lunch have become icons of Canadian art. But, it is the opportunity to see some of his acclaimed films (among his fans were Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas), including his epic The Hart of London, a flickering, ghostly meditation on memory and the passage of time, that make the exhibition most worth seeing.

Will Munro: Total Eclipse (Klaus Nomi), 2005: Courtesy the estate of Will Munro and Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto. © 2010 Estate of Will Munro. Photo: Sean Weaver.

Will Munro
Art Gallery of York University
To March 11, 2012

Sadly, in May 2010 Toronto artist and scene-maker Will Munro passed away after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Munro was responsible for, and a crucial part of, the development of many of the city’s creative communities: he was a DJ, a music promoter, an activist, a queer community catalyst and a visual artist. This exhibition concentrates on the multi-media work Munro produced after graduating from OCAD in 2000, from his first exhibition Boys Do First Aid to his last, Inside the Solar Temple of the Cosmic Leather Daddy. Among his signature works that are on-view: the underwear created from rock concert T-shirts; banners of legendary queer performers such as Klaus Nomi and Leigh Bowery; a restaging of The Pavilion of Virginia Puff-Paint, a collaboration with Toronto clothing designer Jeremy Laing; and the many hand-made silkscreen posters he produced for his dance club nights. This exhibition will certain bring back a lot of memories for those of us who danced up a storm at Vazaleen, Peroxide  and Moustache.

Other exhibitions

• Laura Kikauka at MKG127, opens February 11
• Dagmara Genda/Jay Wilson at KWT Contemporary, to February 19
• Alexander Irving at General Hardware, to March 3
• Althea Thauberger at Susan Hobbs, to March 3
• Marianne Lovink at Olga Korper, opens March 3
• Stan Douglas at the Power Plant, to March 4
• The Malcolmson Photography Collection at the University of Toronto Art Centre, to March 10.
• Annie MacDonell and Pierre Leguilion at Mercer Union, to March 10.
• Douglas Coupland at Daniel Faria Gallery, to April 7